In support of Trinitariauism. the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.-Ver. 10. He was in the world; and the world was made by him; and the world knew him not. This passage is supposed to teach, that Christ Jesus was the original Creator of all things, and that he was truly and properly God. Having previously imbibed this opinion, many have been led by a little similarity of expression, to suppose the same implied by the words of the Psalmist, Ps. xxxiii. 6: By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. The perusal of the passages in the next column may serve to remove this unfounded supposition. The word of Jehovah in this text, clearly means, the command of Jehovah so in the 9th verse, He (Jehovah) spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. Two or three other passages are supposed strongly to countenance this doctrine; one, Col. i. 16, 17, will be noticed in its place. In Eph. iii. 9, God who created all things by Jesus Christ: the words by Jesus Christ are omitted in Griesbach's Greek Testament, as not written by the Apostle; and if they had 8 Disproving the common Interpretation. Jehovah !-Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King. -He hath made the earth by his power; he hath established the world by his wisdom; and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Ps. xcv. 5. The sea is his (Jehovah's) and he made it; and HIS HANDS formed the dry land. Isa. xlv. 18. For thus saith Jehovah, that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it-1 am Jehovah, and there is none else. Jer. xxvii. 4, 5. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, BY MY GREAT POWER, AND BY MY OUTSTRETCHED ARM. Neh. ix. 6. Thou, even thou, art Jehovah alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein. Acts iv. 24. Lord, (Sovereign Lord,) Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is. Rev. iv. 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created. Various other passages di Interpretations in consistency with the Divine Unity. express communication with God, and receiving from him the spirit without measure,) is here called a God, agreeably to Hebrew modes of expression, because to him, in so extraordinary a degree, the word of God came. On this same principle our Lord explains the application of the term in the Old Testament: (see John x. 34, 35 :) it is there repeatedly given to judges, magistrates, and prophets; and it is in particular given to Moses, Exod. vii. 1, Behold I have appointed thee a God unto Pharaoh, and Aaron shall be thy prophet.' The passages in the second column demonstrate that Jehovah, God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the sole Creator of the universe; and that He exercised his creating power without any subordinate agency. If those passages are true, in their plain and unambiguous sense, Jesus Christ could not be the Creator of the natural world. In the great change effected by the Gospel in the spiritual condition of mankind, (of which the Apostle Paul repeatedly speaks as a new creation,) Jesus Christ was the great appointed agent. Through him, God executed all his gracious purposes to mankind: through him, the world was placed in a new and blessed state; and mankind created anew to righteousness and true holiness. Following this mode of interpretation, we may consistently employ the language of the cominon translation: but the meaning of the Apostle may, probably, be more correctly represented as follows: At the beginning' of this grand æra in the moral world, 'he was' declared to be the Word; and the Word was with God,' favoured by Him with peculiar divine intercourse and communications, (referring to the period of our Lord's retirement in the Desert ;) and the Word was a God,' since to him the word of God came, and he was the Representative of the Most High. All things' relative to the Gospel dispensation were done through him;' he was the appointed agent in all.Ver. 10. 'He was in the world, and the world' of mankind were formed anew' (or brought into an enlightened state) by him, and yet the world knew him not.' If Jesus Christ had been the agent in the Natural Creation, he could only have been the subordinate agent; it must still have been effected by the power of Jehovah. There have been some, in other respects Unitarians, (believing in the Absolute Unity, Unrivalled Supremacy, Exclusive Worship, and Essential, Unpurchased Mercy of God, even the Father,) who THE FOLLOWING TRACT, Printed in Exeter for local distribution, and now reprinted, with the belief that it has been, and the hope that it will be, made useful in promoting the reception of the faith once delivered to the saints,' ΤΟ THE IS DEDICATED, WITH CHRISTIAN RESPECT, SERIOUS AND EARNEST INQUIRER N. B. It is the intention of the Author, to prepare, as soon as other pressing engagements will permit, a similar View of the Scriptural Evidence for and against the Anti-Unitarian Principle, that the Death of Christ made a change in the Divine Dealings or Disposition towards Mankind,-disposing or enabling God, even the Father, to be merciful to the repentant Sinner, and procuring for Men Pardon from God. This Part, however, of the COMPARATIVE VIEW, is complete in itself, on the subject of the Unity, Supremacy, and Exclusive Worship of Jehovah. The Second Part will be on his Essential Unpurchased Mercy. THE Unitarian believes in the absolute Unity and Unrivalled Supremacy of Jehovah, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that He is the Only Proper Object of Religious Worship. He believes that there is One God, the Father that the Father is the Only True God;' that Jehovah, our God, Jehovah is One;' and that we are required by the Law and by the Gospel, to make Him the Supreme Object of Love, and to pay Religious Worship to Him alone. The Scriptural Evidence for Unitarianism, consists of numerous plain and express declarations of Scripture, incapable of any other meaning, and incontrovertibly true; and also of innumerable expressions, clearly and directly implying, the great principles of the Absolute Unity, Unrivalled Supremacy, and Exclusive Worship of God, even the Father. 66 THE Trinitarian believes that God is not One Person, One Intelligent Agent; but that the One God consists of Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of one substance, power, and eternity :" That the Son is "the very and eternal God,” “ very God and very Man:" That "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet they are not Three Gods but One God:" And that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are, SEPARATELY, and conjointly, the Proper Objects of Religious Worship. The Scriptural Evidence for Trinitarianism, consists of certain passages which appear to oppose the Unitarian Doctrine, by implying a plurality of Persons, each equally and truly God, and by ascribing to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Titles, Attributes, and Prerogatives, which are supposed to prove him truly God, in the same sense in which the Father is God. |